Deadlines loom; lawmaker vents frustration

Frustration levels are running high as the government shutdown continues and the debt ceiling deadline looms for Thursday.

Locally, 1st District U.S. Rep. Dan Benishek, R-Mich., said a lot of his colleagues are feeling very frustrated as well.

“The Senate won’t even talk with us,” he said Monday in an exclusive phone interview with the Cheboygan Daily Tribune. “People don’t realize what the fight is about.”

The government was shutdown two weeks ago because a funding measure could not be adopted. Since then, the mudslinging has gone on with Obamacare being in the center of the dispute. However, Benishek said that is not the reason for the shutdown.

“Partisan groups have allowed this to occur,” he said. “How did we get here? It was not because of our refusal to fund Obamacare.”

The congressman said a bill was floated that included the delay of Obamacare for a year to see if any senators would jump on board with the idea.

“We asked that Obamacare treat everyone the same, including Congress and the president,” Benishek said. “We asked that individual get the same treatment. We agreed to fund it, we just asked everyone be treated the same.”

However, he said the other side does not even want to come to the table to talk about it.

“Our position is why are they insisting Congress take a better deal than the people,” Benishek said. “This is pretty frustrating when you hear the shutdown is about ‘making you look bad and that is the way it is.’”

The local representative said he wants to find a solution that involves a compromise between both sides of the dispute.

“I took this job because government was spending more money than they have,” he said. “I am fed up with the partisan fight. The Senate wants the bill just the way they want it.”

Benishek said President Barack Obama also doesn’t want to talk about anything.

“He just wants the debt ceiling raised for another a year with no cuts in spending,” he said. “We are willing to change the sequester amounts if there are talks on long-term spending.”

On Monday, talks between the two sides in the Senate looked promising in the late afternoon as Republican Mitch McConnel and Democratic leader Sen. Harry Reid appeared to making progress.

“I think this will come to some sort of compromise,” Benishek said. “There is a conference (today) with the House Republicans. Hopefully there will be some movement in the Senate.”

The congressman said it is difficult to come to an understanding when the Senate says it is their way or nothing.

“The President wants to run the country by executive order. I don’t want to live in that kind of country,” Benishek said. “We have given the president a lot of opportunity to come to the table.”

However, the local representative said he is willing to stand his ground.

“We need to get something so the president realizes we are going to end up like Greece if this continues,” Benishek said. “I insist we get something out of this.”

House GOP leaders unveiled their own plan today to counter a Senate deal. The House bill would repeal a new tax on medical devices and take away lawmakers' federal health care subsidies in addition to funding the government through Jan. 15 and giving Treasury the ability to borrow normally through Feb. 7.